6 DAYS LEFT FOR KIDS TO GET COVID JAB
Parents urged to get their children protected to prevent complications
WITH six days left before the end of the Covid-19 National Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids) this month, the Health Ministry has advised parents to get their children aged 5 to 11 vaccinated against the virus.
Deputy Health Minister I Datuk
Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said it was vital to keep children protected from contracting severe symptoms from the virus, which also exposed them to the possibility of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) and Long Covid.
“We are worried if there are new Covid-19 variants and they are infected because they do not have immunity.
“When that happens, they could transmit the virus to adults.
“So I urge and plead with parents to make the best decision for their children and get them immunised against Covid-19.
“Covid-19 is real and we do not want our children to suffer from serious symptoms and other hazardous health issues,” he said in TV3’s Malaysia Hari Ini yesterday.
Dr Noor Azmi said vaccination had proven to safeguard children from the Covid-19 virus, as shown in data by the Institute for Clinical Research (ICR) under the National Institute of Health.
“When cases shot up, we began vaccination on Feb 3.
“When the immunisation rate rose and we kick-started the second dose, the cases had dropped.
“Yes, there were other public health measures, but it is clear that vaccination has helped to reduce cases.
“When they were completely vaccinated, the number of cases dropped further,” he added.
ICR director Dr Kalai Peariasamy had said PICKids had brought down infections among children during the Omicron wave.
He shared a graph on his Twitter page, which showed cases involving the age group peaking at the end of February, before steadily dropping in March, April and this month.
The ministry’s CovidNow portal yesterday showed that 47.5 per cent of children had gotten their first vaccine dose and 31.9 per cent had been fully inoculated.
No booster doses were offered to them.
Meanwhile, the Covid-19 recovery rate exceeded new infections for the third day in a row.
Data from the CovidNow portal reported that 2,124 people recovered from the virus compared with the 1,918 fresh cases registered on Tuesday.
On May 23 and 22, there were
2,905 and 3,389 recoveries, which outnumbered 1,544 and 1,817 cases, respectively.
Tuesday’s cases consisted of 1,896 local transmissions and 22 imported cases.
Selangor recorded the highest number of cases with 831, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 413 and Penang with 124.
The nation’s cumulative number of cases was 4,494,782 since the pandemic struck, while recoveries stood at 4,434,195.
There were 478 hospital admissions on Tuesday, largely at hospitals in Klang Valley with 154 patients and in Johor with 122.
Two deaths with no brought-indead cases were reported on Tuesday, bringing the total number of fatalities to 35,647.